Charles Joyce

Charles Joyce (1737-1776) was a Captain in the 40th Regiment of Foot of the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. Joyce was killed in 1776 by a Setauket resident named John Robeson, who attempted to frame Abraham Woodhull for the murder; an investigation by Robert Rogers and Woodhull found Robeson responsible.

Biography
Charles Joyce was born in 1737, and he was commissioned as a Captain in the 40th Regiment of Foot in the British Army. Joyce was sent to the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War, and he was deployed to Setauket on Long Island under Major Edmund Hewlett. Joyce was a drunkard who regularly spent time at Selah Strong's tavern and, in the autumn of 1776, Captain Joyce got into an argument with Strong when Strong demanded that local loyalist John Robeson stop reading about George Washington's defeat in New York, as it offended his wife Anna Strong. Strong and Robeson fought, and Joyce's glass was broken in the scuffle, injuring Joyce; Joyce was accidentally hit by Strong during the fight as well. Joyce beat Strong to a pulp despite Abraham Woodhull's attempt to intervene, and the two colonials were arrested, while Joyce was sentenced to return to England and be cashiered upon arrival. However, Joyce was found dead by some slaves with his throat slit,and Woodhull was accused of being the killer; however, it was later discovered that Robeson was the murderer.